UCSF’s Staff Appreciation and Recognition Program (STAR) Program is an opportunity to recognize and reward exceptional work that helps UCSF successfully meet our common objectives. This program furthers UCSF’s Strategic Plan and, ultimately, our vision to advance health worldwide. While our goals are challenging, success in achieving them will have a dramatic impact on our ability to sustain the excellence of UCSF.

Due to the concerted efforts of many people across UCSF, several initiatives linked to the STAR FY14 department goals were accomplished that support our collective success. I appreciate the intensity of the work that many faculty and staff have invested, recognizing the extra determination to get the job done.

2014–15 STAR program

The STAR program will continue in fiscal year 2014–15. Similar to last year, there is the potential to provide cash awards for non-represented staff employees who demonstrate significant achievements and contributions in support of targeted strategic objectives.

This fiscal year we will continue with a goal in support of employee engagement, and each organization will institute one additional goal directly linked to the advancement of UCSF’s Strategic Plan. Supervisors will share details of this program in the coming weeks with employees providing information on how to participate. In July 2015, the UCSF leadership team will assess accomplishments against those goals and consider recognition awards up to $2,000 for MSP job levels and $800 for PSS job levels.

It is important to share upfront that the UC Office of the President retains the authority to discontinue this plan at any time. A decision to...

I am honored to have been appointed today by the UC Board of Regents as the tenth chancellor of UC San Francisco. It is a privilege to have the opportunity and the responsibility to lead one of the premier health sciences universities in the world. I believe deeply in UCSF’s public mission and our collective ability to transform health through research, education and patient care.

Over the past 32 years, I have had the honor of serving UCSF in a variety of ways, starting as a postdoctoral fellow in the Cardiovascular Research Institute. There, I learned the critical role of the basic, curiosity-driven research that is the foundational strength of UCSF.

Early in my career, I also benefited from UCSF’s unusually collaborative and mutually supportive culture, an environment that demands excellence, but is also warm and supportive, with teachers and mentors who are equally as eager to see their students and colleagues succeed as they are to contribute. I am proud that this remains the culture of UCSF today.

I also have had the great fortune, as a clinician, to practice in UCSF’s neonatal intensive care unit. There, I was reminded daily of the nobility of our mission to improve the health and lives of the people we are privileged to serve, and to train the next generation.

These years have been an extraordinary experience and have instilled a deep respect for the core values that drive us at UCSF. As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Toland Medical College, I am acutely aware of the rapid changes underway in all aspects of our work. UCSF has a well-deserved reputation for leading change. Now more than ever, we must nurture this...

Earlier this year, Governor Brown declared a drought state of emergency and called on Californians to reduce their water use by 20 percent. While UC San Francisco (UCSF) recognizes the severity of the situation, we already have taken actions that resulted in an actual reduction in our water use from 1990 to 2013, even as square footage increased by 74.7 percent over that period.

Despite this commendable record, more is needed. I am writing today to inform you of the measures the campus is adopting as well as describe the individual actions you also can take to address the current crisis.

Current campus water-saving measures

In January, President Janet Napolitano issued her goal to have individual campuses and the system as a whole reduce consumption of potable water by 20 percent by 2020. UCSF committed to six strategic actions and has just completed its first Water Action Plan that outlines actions toward achieving this objective. These strategies include infrastructure and large equipment upgrades and retrofits. More information about the action items is available at Office of Sustainability–LivingGreen.

However, as stated, the Governor asks the state to reduce water consumption by 20 percent this year. We only can accomplish this through your immediate help in reducing our daily water usage.

How you can HELP:

Join your colleagues across the campus community in saving water in several ways:

· Workers and lab managers should have their labs and offices Living Green Certified as soon as possible to focus on water and energy saving strategies. Whenever possible, use less deionized, distilled or reverse-...

I am pleased to share with you the results of the 2014 Staff Engagement Survey. UCSF’s overall score, or grand mean, increased from 3.72 to 3.81 points (0.09) on a five-point scale. Over the last three staff engagement surveys administered by Gallup, this constitutes an increase of .21, which marks meaningful progress. I encourage all of us to be part of this trend of increasing engagement at UCSF.

Building staff engagement is a shared responsibility. As the last two survey results showed, those units that participated in and made progress on action planning achieved significantly higher levels of engagement. There are several ways each of us can support this effort:

· Actively contribute to and participate in your unit’s action planning activities. You can expect to hear your unit’s specific results in the coming weeks.

· Share your ideas with your managers and peers in support actions to promote engagement in your unit.

· Look for ways to integrate engagement into day-to-day work.

Together, we help make UCSF a great place to work and ensure UCSF’s ongoing success as a leader in research, education, and patient care. I join you in this endeavor and am deeply grateful for all you do for UCSF.